Cal says Memorial Stadium will be ready for September football kickoff

The University of California, Berkeley, said seismic improvements and modernization of Memorial Stadium are “all but complete” and that the field will be ready for kickoff by Sept. 1.

“It’s not quite usable yet and we’ll likely have some rough edges, but it would take an act of God to prevent us from staging a football game here,” said Bob Milano Jr., Cal’s assistant athletic director and project manager at the stadium.

The 90-year-old stadium sits right on the Hayward Fault and had cracks running through the structure and seating areas to the southeast.

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing work is about 95 percent done, U.C. Berkeley said. Over the next five months, workers will paint and coat walls, ceilings and floors, put tiles in restrooms, add signs, handrails and light fixtures.

Work at the site hasn’t been easy. General contractor Webcor Builders had to figure out how to manage operations with just one entrance for trucks and equipment, through the north gate.

The field itself was lowered by 4 feet.

Part of the historic outer structure with its arched walls was retained like an outer skin over the new, earthquake safe interior structure. Repairing and coating that outer structure is about 70 percent complete.